The New Coronavirus is generally not thought to be powerful in most children, but now a British doctor says to be wary of a potential link between the New Coronavirus and a rare childhood inflammatory syndrome, according to U.S. media. Experts also stress, however, that overall, it remains very rare for children to develop a serious illness associated with New Coronavirus pneumonia.
The British Society of Pediatric Intensive Care said the warning was issued over the weekend, according to an April 28 report on the U.S. Fun Science website. NHS England alerted doctors that the number of children with "multisystem inflammation" requiring intensive care is small but increasing. Some of these children have been tested for the new coronavirus infection, but others have tested negative.
NHS England noted in the paper that the cases showed symptoms similar to two rare diseases: toxic shock syndrome and Kawasaki's disease. Toxic shock syndrome is an illness caused by toxins produced by specific bacteria that can be life-threatening; Kawasaki's disease is a pediatric condition that causes inflammation of blood vessel walls and, in severe cases, heart damage.
Some of the symptoms in children in the UK include fever, severe abdominal pain and rash, and in some cases markers of severe inflammation in the blood, according to The Guardian. Some of the children also required treatment for heart inflammation. So far this type of inflammatory syndrome does not appear to be rare, with only about 12 cases in children reported in the UK.
CNN reports that similar cases have been seen in Spain and Italy. In addition, Stanford University physicians recently published a case report in the journal Pediatrics that a local half-year-old infant was diagnosed with Kawasaki's disease and New Coronary Pneumonia.
Courtney Gidengill, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and senior fellow in physician policy at the RAND Corporation, believes that the association between Kawasaki's disease and New Coronavirus is not entirely surprising. Gidengill, who was not involved in the U.K. study herself, said the cause of Kawasaki's disease is not known, but there are important theories that the disease may be caused by a common viral infection.
But Gidengill also said it was too early to say that the new coronavirus was causing the inflammatory syndrome in children. Scientists need more data to prove it. In fact, the NHS in England also pointed out in the paper that inflammatory syndrome may also be associated with another pathogen that has yet to be identified.
Even so, Gidengil thinks "it's good that they're raising the alarm to make people aware of it.
Although the news may worry parents, serious complications in children from the new coronavirus are rare. Gidengill said, "You have to keep in mind that it's really rare for children to have complications from Neocon pneumonia as far as we can see."
